Sharing experiences and inspiration across the world

Never did I think, when I was studying a degree in adapted physical activity, that 25 years later I would be in a room, presenting to some of the very academics whose work I referenced in my final dissertation.

Yet there I was. On the other side of the world in Dunedin, New Zealand, surrounded by 500 like-minded people.

I was humbled to be asked to be a keynote speaker at the biennial International Symposium of Adapted Physical Activity (ISAPA), held at the beautiful and historic University of Otago.

Bringing knowledge and specialists together

Over the years, ISAPA has become the premier platform for the presentation of the latest adapted physical activity (APA) research and application.

It’s also more recently emerging as the ideal forum to network with APA practitioners, coaches, educationalists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and adaptive recreational providers.

This year’s symposium theme was 'Global Innovation, Adaptation and Accessibility in a Changing World' and for the first time it truly went further than ever before to bring practitioners and administrators of sport together with researchers and academics in the field.

As is customary with local events held in New Zealand, we were greeted at the Opening Ceremony with a traditional Māori welcome.

This included a ‘Whakatau’ (welcome) and ‘Karakia’ (prayer/incantations) by the brilliant Kiringāua Cassidy. We were then treated to a kapa haka performed by the group He Waka Kōtuia, made up of Year 9-13 rakatahi (youth) from a range of different backgrounds.

A full, albeit exhausting, week of conferencing ensued with a broad programme of keynotes, workshops, poster presentations, practical sessions, evening events and the all-important networking.
 

My keynote was on the second day. I kicked off by, somewhat nervously, introducing myself in Te Reo Māori, and although decidedly worried about my terrible pronunciation, was buoyed when told that New Zealanders appreciate even poorly executed efforts from visitors.

I took people through our long-term strategy, Uniting the Movement; how we work to tackle inequalities and our work more broadly with system partners.

I also spoke about our disability insight, our investment and the wonderful work of our disability partners, too.

Really insightful questions were raised during the event with some great follow-ups afterwards, and there was also a lot of interest in the three main pillars of our strategy -  building the movement, meeting people where they’re at and being the change.

For the very last session of the week, I was really excited to deliver a joint session around embedding culture change on all that we had heard, with the wonderful Brenda O’Donnell, CEO of Active Disability Ireland.

We didn’t know each other before the event but were so motivated by a lot of the similar work across the two organisations, that we decided to run our session jointly, rather than 'in competition' with each other.

The interactive session was so lively, our fears about hosting the graveyard slot, gone.

People were keen to make connections with each other, share what they had learnt throughout the week and, crucially, commit to some positive actions to take back with them.

Promises were made around diversifying leadership, increasing representation and embarking on better storytelling.

There were also pledges about the development of resources like toolkits, apps and libraries to lobby mainstream providers.

The energy was high and the enthusiasm infectious.

Visiting Sport New Zealand

My trip wasn’t all Dunedin-based, however, as I got to see some other parts of the beautiful country too.

This included an insightful visit to the Sport New Zealand’s offices in Wellington.

I spent a day meeting like-minded colleagues there; making connections and learning about Sport New Zealand’s priority focus around tamariki and rangatahi (children and young people), and their broader disability work.

It was comforting to learn that our two countries, despite being significantly different in size, structure and investment approaches, are so aligned in our overall outcomes.

I felt oddly comforted that we also experienced similar challenges and it was inspiring to share and hear ways in which both teams work towards overcoming difficulties.

Additionally, I really valued hearing about their first ever Disability Hui (a gathering or meeting), which attracted over 100 different organisations that came together to connect, share and to develop more opportunities. Definitely food for thought!

Excited for the future

New Zealand is a stunning country. Thanks to some impressive jet lag, 4:30am wake ups were common and, therefore, so were the hilly walks, the waterfront wanders and the stunning sunrises.

But apart from the amazing outdoors, the true beauty of events like these are the networks that are created.

And I already feel like those global connections I made, from academics to sports councils, and disability charities to innovative entrepreneurs, will definitely reap rewards for increasing opportunities for disabled people to be active in England, in time.

I’m already looking forward to sharing all the progress at ISAPA 2025.

Given that it’s in Kerry, Ireland, it’ll be a little closer to home with definitely less jet lag, but with scenery just as beautiful.